Cathedral Church of Saint Mark of Ephesus

Boston, Massachusetts

Parish Membership
Saint Mark of Ephesus Orthodox Cathedral is currently comprised of 126 families, including the clergy, a protopresbyter, a protodeacon, and a deacon. These families are made up of young and older professionals, venerable old men and women, working people, college students and graduates, teenagers, and younger children. A bit more than half of these parishioners are American-born, while most of the rest of the faithful are from Greece, with others also from Russia and Serbia. For this reason, our Services are bilingual, alternating between English and Greek. In the Divine Liturgy, the Epistle, Gospel, Creed, and Lord’s Prayer are recited in both languages. The sermon, or homily, is also delivered in both languages.

Sacred Services
The most important aspect of a True Christian parish is the spiritual life, expressed by and in the corporate worship of the members of the Body of Christ and their individual spiritual struggle. Therefore, the Sacred Services are at the heart of our parish life. Thanks to God’s grace and the blessing of our Patron Saint, we have taken a non-Orthodox time and adapted it to an Orthodox Christian cycle of Services. First and foremost, Vespers is celebrated every Saturday evening at 6:00 P.M., inaugurating the weekly celebration of our Lord’s Resurrection and our salvation. Matins begins at 7:00 A.M. on the Lord’s Day (Sunday), followed immediately by the Divine Liturgy. Typically, there is at least one other scheduled Service during the rest of the week—more often than not, two or more—which is usually either Vespers or Vigil and the Divine Liturgy or the Supplicatory Canon (Paraclesis) to the Theotokos and St. Nectarios. For certain Feast days, the Divine Liturgy is celebrated at midnight, immediately following a Vigil, so that the faithful can participate in the Liturgy on those Feasts and still get to their work and school later that morning. Holy Unction is celebrated once in each of the four major fasting periods of the year. Baptisms, weddings, funerals, confessions, the blessing of homes and places of business, and ministering to the sick and imprisoned are, of course, ongoing throughout the year.

The Church Edifice
With our Lord’s help, the faithful have taken an originally non-Orthodox space and adapted it for Orthodox worship. On the Beautiful Gate (or Royal Doors) is an icon of the Annunciation. The handpainted icons on the iconostasion (the icon screen separating the nave from the Holy Altar, or Sanctuary), include, on the right side, icons of our Savior, Saint John the Forerunner, the Archangel Michael, and Saint Spyridon, on the left side, the Theotokos, Saint Mark of Ephesus, the Archangel Gabriel, and Saint Nicholas. The epitaphios (the icon of Christ’s entombment) used for Holy and Great Friday is mounted in a frame on the left wall adjacent to the iconostasion. There is also a large Cross with the icon of Christ crucified mounted upon it. In addition, there are carved wooden fans with icons of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, banners with icons of Saint Mark of Ephesus and of Saint Philothei of Athens, the patron Saint of the Cathedral parish philoptochos (the women’s charitable auxiliary), and some twenty other large icons adorning the walls.

In addition to icons of the Feasts of the Master and the Mother of God and of other Saints, in the middle of each of the walls to the left and right and at the back (inner narthex) of the church are special icon shrines, one to Saints Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene, the newly-revealed Martyrs of Mytilene, another to Saint Panteleimon, and the third to Saint Nectarios of Pentapolis. Oil lamps are always kept burning in the Holy Altar (Sanctuary) and before many of the icons around the Church to show that the Church is living and to ask God to bless us even when we are not here, to have mercy on us, and to save us throughout all our days. One layman ensures that these lamps are always lit.

Programs and Activities
An Orthodox Christian educational and social context is also important for us all. To this end, there is a Church School for pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade students; adult religious education in the form of talks and lectures; a Greek School from kindergarten through sixth grade; Choir; Byzantine chanting instruction; a bookstore; a Philoptochos; an Altar Servers group; an all-girls group; a high school youth group; coffee hour and, on a number of occasions, full meals after the Divine Liturgies; and, off the premises, an annual dinner, picnics, sports activities, and other outings. The personnel responsible for the programs just listed and other parishioners, young and old alike, are the backbone of these activities, which frequently result in lasting bonds of Christian friendship and brotherhood that extend beyond the walls of the church building.

Administration and Jurisdictional Affiliation
Our Cathedral Parish is administered by the pastor, the Cathedral Parish Council, and the general enrolled corporate membership.

Saint Mark of Ephesus Orthodox Cathedral is the Cathedral Church of His Eminence, Metropolitan Ephraim of Boston. Metropolitan Ephraim is a member bishop of the Holy Synod of The Holy Orthodox Church in North America, an eparchial synod of the True Orthodox Church of Greece.